Moneyball (1 Viewer)

[The Military Workshop]

Hi Guys,
I went to watch Moneyball whilst wife and daughter watching that vampire movie.

Don't follow Baseball but enjoyed the movie. Almost did not recognise Phillip Seymore Hoffmann.

Had never heard of the Oakland A's record breaking winning streak so I thought end of the movie would be them winning the World Series.

Raised the interesting point about poor teams not being able to compete with richer teams (ie. $120million team v a $39 million team) I did some Googling and one of the top players poached from the A's got a 7 year contract worth $120 million (compare to yearly A's budget of $39 million).

According to Google the film was delayed as original director wanted to include interviews with original people but some thought this might not be appropriate. I would have found that interesting. Have to admire the A's General Manager for turning down the offer of $12.5million from the Boston Red Sox who then won the World Series two years later using the methods he pioneered. I see he is still with the A's.

In Rugby League here there is a total team salary cap which each team can not go over and which is tightly monitored. This is why some players in Oz will go to play Rugby in Japan where they can earn double the money. Are there any team sports in USA where they have a salary cap or is it they can all spend what they want ?.

Incidentally how many games does a team play in regular season ? Seems a lot but could not get final number from the movie.

Also the trading of players as shown in the movie seems very ruthless. They appear to have no say with one player being bought on the day they were due to play his team.

Regards
Brett

 

[lancer]

Hi Brett. As a matter of financial survival, the major sports, except baseball, all have salary caps. The football and ice hockey caps are currently in place. The pro basketball league is on strike/lockout, so nothing in effect there right now, but they have a cap when all is in order. Baseball alone has no cap, thus the totally out of control salaries and costs. With it's long 162 game regular season and the extended playoffs, baseball has a LOT of money to spend, especially the big market teams like New York and Boston. The baseball union is exceptionally strong and has refused a salary cap. -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

Brett,

A player is locked into a team for the first six years of his career. After that he is free to sign with whatever team he wants. That is where the owners' leverage ends. This is much better than it used to be. Until the mid 70s, a player had no say whatsoever and even if he had a good year, his team could reduce his salary against its will. It was basically a form of slavery. There is a great story where Ralph Kiner, a power hitting outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who is a member of the Hall of Fame, had a great year and went to discuss his salary for the next year and the general manager, Branch Rickey, cut his salary, saying "Ralph, we finished last with you and we can finish last without you."

As a result of the termination of this power, the pendulum swing the other way to the players having a great deal of power. It has moved slightly more to the center but the players are very strong.

 

[The Military Workshop]

Al and Brad,
Thanks for that.

When you say 162 games in a season how many games does one team play not including playoffs and world
series.

Kiner story is a good one.

Regards
Brett

 

[jazzeum]

Brett,

The regular season is 162 games. Under the current structure (which is changing) four teams from each league go to the playoffs: in the divisional round, it's a best of five; the winners then play a best of seven to go the World Series, which is also a best of seven series.

Brad